


The Promise I Kept

by bitingbones



Category: Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Hate Sex, I Will Go Down With This Ship, M/M, No Cult, Partying, Recreational Drug Use, Sal Fisher and Larry Johnson Are Not Related, Slash, no d.o.g. cult
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:41:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24358243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitingbones/pseuds/bitingbones
Summary: Ever since their first college party together Ashley, Todd, and Sal had wanted to start their own party house. Sure, it was just a stupid bullshit college thing, but the thought of their band ‘Sanity’s Fall’ playing live music every weekend sent a thrill up Sal’s spine.Living together, along with their friends Travis and Neil, felt like a dream come true. They were going to rock out, party hard, and dance with the students of Mansfield University until the sun came up. Everything was going to be perfect.That is, until Larry Johnson moves in.Then everything goes to hell.(This fic is based on my own experience in college and working at/going to party houses. This is the first fic I've ever decided to post, so please be kind! Feel free to leave comments on your thoughts!)
Relationships: Ashley Campbell & Sal Fisher & Larry Johnson & Todd Morrison, Chug/Maple (Sally Face), Sal Fisher & Larry Johnson - Relationship, Sal Fisher/Larry Johnson, Sal Fisher/Travis Phelps, Todd Morrison/Neil
Comments: 12
Kudos: 31





	1. Chapter 1

The beginning notes of 'Mr.Brightside' began playing from the car speaker.

“Oh shit!” Ashley squealed from the passenger's seat, “Guys I swear we are playing this song at the end of all our parties. It’s the perfect way to end the night.”

“I still think we should go with 'Closing Time.' It makes more sense.” Todd was focused on the road ahead of him, but reached a quick freckled hand over to turn the volume up. “We should be there in a few minutes.”

Sal looked out the car window. His prosthetic face touched the cool surface of the glass as he watched the sky overhead. The clouds were dark and heavy, threatening to rain at any moment.

The long car ride from Nockfell to Mansfield University had been a nightmare. First, Ashley completely misread the GPS, navigating Todd in the wrong direction for at least half an hour before anyone realized they had gone the wrong way. Then, after 2 hours in the hot car with no AC and an anxious Gizmo crying in his crate, Sal’s carsickness got the best of him and they had to pull over for Sal to ralph his lunch onto the side of the road. For the last 3 hours of the ride, Sal nursed the bottle of ginger ale Ash had given him and tried to sleep.

The Jeep halted to a stop at the side of the street. As soon as they stopped, ‘Mr. Brightside’ ended and a voice on the radio announced “Next up is ‘Who Fucking Cares” by Larry-”

Todd turned off the radio and unlocked the car doors. “We’re here.” They were parked in front of a dingy house, the blue paint chipping around the windows. The front porch led to a door labeled ‘504’ with a faded welcome mat underneath it.

Todd, Ashley, and Sal clambered out of the ancient vehicle, eager to stretch their legs. As he looked at the ragged house-turned-apartment, Sal swelled with excitement. They had been talking about this for over a year now, and it was finally happening. Ever since their first college party together, the trio had wanted to start their own party house. Sure, it was just a stupid bullshit college thing, but the thought of their band ‘Sanity’s Fall’ playing live music here every weekend sent a thrill up Sal’s spine.

Ashley and Sal hovered over Todd as he fumbled with the keys, overflowing with excitement. As soon as the door was open, the three burst into the apartment.

The inside of the building wasn’t much better than the exterior, but it didn’t matter. It was their home. The door opened into a small kitchen. To the left of the door was a staircase leading down to the basement. They had already decided that that was where they would put the stage for their gigs. The kitchen led into a wide living room where Todd began assembling the bar. On the eastern side of the living room were three doors, each with their own locks. Ashley had already claimed the middle room as it was the largest, and Todd needed a room big enough to hold all his computer equipment, so Sal was stuck with the room on the right which was the smallest of the three. At the back wall of the living room, across from Sal stood a staircase leading to the upstairs apartment and a door to the backyard. Travis and Neil had agreed to move to the apartment-house with the trio to help with parties and damage control. Plus, Todd had made it a point that we could use the living room in the upstairs apartment to hang out since the downstairs one would be occupied, although Sal was sure Todd would have made any excuse to have Neil live with them.

“Sal, can you come help me for a sec?” Todd was hunched over a pile of 2x4s. “I need you to hold the nails in while I hammer.”

“Yeah sure no problem.” Sal sat down beside him and held the first nail into place. “Have you heard anything from Neil?”

Todd spoke over the sound of the hammer, grinning. “Yeah! He texted me a minute ago. He said him and Travis should be here in an hour! I want to try and get things set up in here so we can work on the stage when they arrive.”

Sal moved to grab the next nail. “Yo Ash! Put on some music!”

“The neighbors are going to fucking hate us!” The sound of an old punk band began playing from the other room.

“Are you nervous about living with Travis?” Neil asked, readying the hammer again.

Sal was thrown off by the question. Last year, Travis had been Todd’s roommate and while he and Sal didn’t get along at first, they had hooked up a few times when Todd hadn’t been in the room.

“Honestly, I think it will be fine. Travis and I are friends, so it’ll be okay.”

The two made quick work of the bar, and by the time Travis and Neil arrived, the living room was finished, complete with a fully functional bar, a custom sound system, and LED color changing lights.

Travis and Neil rolled up to the blue house honking the horn and blasting music from their car. Ashley was the first one outside, tackling them into a bear hug.

“I missed you jerks!” She cried “We’ve finally got the whole squad back!”

Not quite, Sal thought.

“What’s up Sallyface?” asked Travis, nudging Sal with his elbow.

“Let’s get you idiots unpacked. Are you guys hungry?”

Ashley pulled out her phone, “I’m already on it,” and dialed the number to their favorite pizza place.

After unloading their stuff in their rooms, Travis and Neil joined the other three in the basement to work on the stage. Ash was in charge of building the actual stage itself, as she was the most capable one in the group. Neil and Todd were absorbed in setting up the speaker system, which left the decorating to Travis and Sal.

“So uh,” Travis started, “I brought these, but I think I need a little help.” The blonde boy held a massive tangle of lights in his arms.

Sal rolled his eyes under his mask and began untangling the cords.

“Your hair looks cool like that today.” Travis blurted out suddenly.

Sal had almost forgotten he’d put his split ends up in a bun to keep them from falling in his face when he got sick on the car ride. By now the bun was a little lopsided and his bangs were falling in his face.

“Thanks, it was more from necessity than a fashion statement, but I’ll take what I can get today. I’ve almost got these lights free. Here, hold this so I can untangle the rest.” Sal’s hand brushed against Travis’ as he handed him the string lights. Travis had strong, rough hands and they were cold to the touch. He pulled away from Sal instinctually, avoiding eye contact.

“Hey Sal, I’ve got something to tell you-” Travis jumped at the sound of the doorbell.

“Pizzas here! First piece is MINE!” Shouted Ash as she bound up the basement stairs to the front door.

“Oh fuck no!” Neil yelled after her, following right behind.

“Hold that thought, I wanna grab a slice before those two consume the whole thing.”

They followed up to the porch where the poor pizza man stood holding a tower of boxes. “Ash you didn’t need to order this much,” scolded Todd. Ash stuck her tongue out at him as she took the mountain of pizza. “Quit whining and pay the man.”

Todd sighed and pulled out his wallet.

“Nah don’t worry, I got it.” said a deep voice from behind the delivery man.

Sal recognized the voice, but it took him a second to register what was happening. In front of him stood a boy with long, dark hair. He pulled out a wad of cash and handed it to the delivery man and mumbled, “Keep the change.”

Sal’s head felt heavy and the world seemed to slowly spin around him. He lost the feeling in his legs and almost collapsed at the sight of the figure in front of him. Travis grabbed Sal before he reached the floor. “I’m sorry, I was going to tell you.”

Standing in front of them was Larry Johnson.


	2. Chapter 2

Ashley punched Larry in the face. Hard.

Todd and Neil were on her in a second.

“What the FUCK Larry?! Why are you here!?” Todd held her back as Neil stood in between them.

“Listen, I can explain. Travis and I meant to tell you before he got here but we couldn’t find a good time.” Larry stood behind Neil, holding a hand where Ashley’s fist had contacted his eye and the side of his nose. A bruise was already beginning to form underneath his long fingers.

Sal was holding his breath and was still being held up by Travis. What was going on?? Why was Larry here of all places? He had been on tour the whole summer, there was no reason for him to be in Mansfield.

Unsurprisingly, Todd was the calmest of the group. “Larry, we need to get some ice on that. Let’s head inside. We’re not gonna solve anything from beating eachother up outside.” He gave Ash a pointed look and let her go.

\---

Sal sat in the middle of the couch in the upstairs living room, in between Ashley and Todd. Ashley had a protective arm around Sal as he sulked, wishing he were anywhere else.

Larry was sprawled out on the bean bag chair next to the television. Travis and Neil were standing in front of the group as if they were on trial for murder.

“Trav, you wanna start?”

“Uh, sure. Um. So it’s kind of a long story, but Larry is living in the apartment with us.”

Ash’s eyes flamed. “WHAT!? No fucking way. You can’t just drop that on us without asking us first! Todd, please tell them!”

Todd looked over at his boyfriend, who seemed a nervous wreck. “Chill out Ash. Let’s just hear them out.”

Travis and Neil looked at each other, at a loss for words. Larry broke the silence. “Listen I get it, you guys don’t want me here. But I’m going to school here and Travis said there was a spare room and that it would lower everyone’s rent if I joined the lease. I’m doing you guys a fucking favor.” He smirked at them with a shit-eating grin.

That set Sal off.

He stood up, his voice dangerously calm, “I don’t wanna hear this from you. Shut the fuck up and leave, now. We’ll figure this out without you.”

“Ouch. That’s harsh Sallyface.”

When he didn’t move, Sal grabbed Larry by the collar and hoisted him out of the beanbag chair. Although the brown-haired boy was much larger than him, Sal shoved Larry into the other room and shut the door behind him. “Ok. Explain.”

Travis told them that despite the groups falling out, he had remained in contact with Larry for the past year. Sal vaguely remembered Larry and Travis hitting it off when the group met him at an accepted students event at Mansfield.

When Larry signed his record deal and touring contract, his mom had insisted that Larry go to college the following year. It was written into the contract and everything. Now that his tour was over, Larry would be attending Mansfield University with the rest of them, and since he didn’t know anyone else, Travis offered to let Larry stay with them.

“Listen, I know he’s a piece of shit. But he had no other option. All on-campus housing was full and there weren’t any available apartments. I’m sorry. I should have asked you guys or at least told you beforehand that he was coming, I just didn’t know how to. Besides Neil, well…” Travis anxiously looked over to Neil who had been quiet during the whole explanation.

“Look, it’s not a secret, it’s fine.” Neil looked at the floor as he spoke. “I came out to my parents this summer and well, it didn’t go great. They kicked me out and aren’t helping me pay for school anymore, which is mostly fine since I have scholarships for tuition. But, the rent to live here without another roommate would have been too much for me,” There were tears in his eyes as he finished his explanation. “Larry living here is the reason I can stay.”

Sal let out a long sigh and looked over at Todd. His face was wet with tears too, and Sal knew there was nothing he could do.

“Alright,” Sal declared, “It’s fine. Larry can stay. On one condition. He will never play a single song on our stage.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm planning on posting chapters every other day, so look out for chapter three on Thursday!
> 
> I'm really enjoying writing this fic, so please stick with me and share it with your friends!
> 
> Thank you for your support <3
> 
> -Ren


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Sal woke up to a still dark sky. Sal could hear quiet purring as Gizmo slept. His head pounded as he rolled over and checked his phone. It was 3am. It was useless to try and go back to sleep, so Sal turned on the light and looked around the room. His walls were already covered in posters, just as they had been at Addison Apartments. Those days seemed so far away now.

Sal got out of bed, threw on his sweatshirt, and latched his prosthetic into place. Slipping on a pair of vans, he grabbed the joint he had rolled the night before and headed towards the porch. He could hear the drizzle of summer rain before he even opened the door.

“Got a light?”

Sitting on the front steps, illuminated by the glow of the door way, was Larry.

“Trav? Do you have a-,” Larry turned around to face Sal and stopped mid-speech, “Oh. I thought you were Travis. You can go somewhere else now.”

“Don’t be such a fucking prick.” Sal tossed his lighter to Larry. There weren’t any chairs on the porch, and the only place to sit was on the steps next to Larry, so Sal just leaned against the doorframe.

Larry lit his joint and threw the lighter at Sal, who lit his own. They sat there and smoked in silence, tension hanging thick in the air, for what felt like an eternity.

Sal stared at the back of Larry’s head as he blew out a cloud of smoke. His dark brown hair waterfalled down his back, and when he turned to take a drag Sal could see the mole on his right cheekbone.

For a moment, Sal was transported back to the treehouse. His lips gently brushing over those cheekbones before planting a soft kiss on that mole.

Sal shook the memory away. None of that mattered anymore. Those days were gone. The Larry sitting in front of him now was not the Larry he’d been in love with.

This Larry was a stranger.

“Fuck.” Sal blurted out suddenly. He was boiling inside. The memories flooding back as he stared at the boy in front of him was opening up fresh wounds.

“Hm? What’s your problem, Shittyface? Got your mask in a bunch?”

“Shut up. You’re lucky Neil saved your ass. If it weren’t for him, Ash would have kicked your ass and you’d be sleeping out there tonight.”

“I don’t sleep, Sal, you should know that. And there’s no way Campbell could hurt me, even if she wanted to.”

“That black eye says otherwise.”

“She caught me by surprise, that’s all. Besides, kinda embarrassing you need little Ashley to fight your battles for you.” Larry let out a short laugh, smoke billowing around his brown tendrils. “What, you can’t face me like a man, Sal?”

“You’re one to talk.”

Sal put out his joint and went back into the apartment. There was no way he was going to take that shit from Larry fucking Johnson. He wanted to scream or cry or both. It had been over a year and still Larry could make him feel this way. Sal felt a little pathetic that he had gotten so worked up.

On his way back to his room, Sal could see the light from Ashley’s room streaming under her door. It wasn’t unusual for Sal to be up at an ungodly hour, but Ash usually slept like a log. She was infamous for her snoring and ability to fall asleep at any moment.

“Sal?”

“It’s me. Can I come in?”

“Sure. Just watch your head.”

Sal entered and narrowly missed running into a string light hanging off the ceiling. Ash had covered her entire ceiling with fairy lights that twinkled dim shades of purple and blue throughout the room. The wall next to her bed was covered with polaroids she had taken of them over the years and tickets from concerts they had gone to. She had also hung up the first poster they had made for Sanity’s Fall. Sal recalled her and Larry slaving away in the treehouse designing it together.

Ash was sitting at her easel and listening to some local rock station on the radio. Sal couldn’t see what she was doing, but she had a smudge of blue paint smeared on her chin.

She looked at her best friend and gave him a wide grin. “Sit down young one. Take a load off. A masterpiece is in the works.”

He sat down on her bed and looked at the polaroids stuck to the wall with sticky tack. One in particular caught his attention. The picture had been taken selfie-style with Ash holding the camera backwards so she could be in the shot. Todd was next to her, his face bright red from the hot stage lights. Behind them was Sal sitting on Larry’s shoulders. Larry was flicking off the camera as Sal gave him bunny ears. Though Sal’s plastic face was emotionless, his eyes were sparkling with tears of joy. This was taken after Sanity’s Fall’s first concert. It had just been a small show in Ashley’s garage with some people from their highschool but still, that night they were drunk with pride from their performance.

“Hey, remember when Larry wasn’t a dick?”

That made Ash laugh. “He was always a dick, just not a total dick. How are you feeling about this whole roommate situation?”

“I don’t know.” And he didn’t. “Honestly, I just feel so mixed up right now. I mean, this whole house is our baby. We’ve been planning this out for so long and now when it’s finally a reality, this wildcard was thrown at us from out of nowhere. It feels like there’s an intruder.”

“Our baby has a parasite and there’s nothing we can do.” Ashley added some red paint to her palette and mixed it with a bit of white. “It’s kind of extra weird for you, huh? I mean, you’re living with two exes.”

“Two?” It took Sal a moment to catch on, “Oh, Travis. Todd brought that up yesterday too. I don’t think that will be an issue. We were really only friends.”

“If you say so. Ok, ok. Hold on. Holllld onnnnn... there! It is done.” She made a chef’s kiss gesture with her left hand and turned the easel to face Sal. “My new masterpiece. I think it’s some of my finest work yet.”

Sal looked to meet his own eyes on the canvas. He had seen his own reflection before, but there was something different about the way that Ash painted him. He seemed more alive. Looking in a mirror was depressing, just an inscrutable mask of a person. But in the painting, he was more than that. It was like Ash saw past his mask and straight into his soul.

And then Sal noticed it. A single painted tear ran down his prosthetic face. It hit him right in the gut. Sometimes Sal forgot just how well Ash knew him.

“I- I don’t know what to say. It’s beautiful, but it’s me.”

“You are beautiful, Sal. You’re the most beautiful person in the world.”

They spent the rest of the night curled up in Ash’s bed watching cartoons until they both fell asleep. Before drifting off, Sal thought about how lucky he was, despite everything. He had some amazing friends that truly understood him, and now they were all living together under one roof.

Not even Larry Johnson could mess this up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! The next chapter will be out this weekend!
> 
> -Ren


	4. Chapter 4

The sun was setting over Addison Apartments on the eve of Sal’s high school graduation. He felt uneasy as he put on his favorite pair of red jeans and a ripped black t-shirt. His whole body was electrified with anticipation. 

Despite the ceremony the next day, graduation wasn’t what was on Sal’s mind. Tonight Sal and the rest of Sanity’s Fall would be playing their biggest show yet, a crowd of 400 people at an underground club. The crowd itself wasn’t the most nerve-wracking part. Todd had gotten a message the day before that a representative from the record company ‘Devourers of God’ would be attending the show as well. This was the first real shot at getting Sanity’s Fall signed and Sal didn’t want to mess it up. 

“Breaker, breaker. Requesting ETA for Sallyface. What’s your 20?” 

Sal picked up his walkie-talkie to reply. “Sallyface to Larryface. Still getting dressed. Meet in the lobby in half an hour?”

“Negative. Larryface requesting a rendezvous in basement before meeting with others. Be here in 5.”

Sal rolled his eyes, “10-4, jackass. Over and out.”

He grabbed his keys and wallet and shoved them in his back pocket. Sal slipped on his denim jacket that Ash had embroidered “Sanity’s Fall” onto the back and headed out of the apartment. 

On the way down to the basement, Sal noticed he was clutching his guitar case so tightly his knuckles were white. As he stepped out of the elevator, Sal loosened his grip. If Larry saw how nervous Sal was, it would only make him worried too.

The sign on Larry’s door read “KEEP OUT,” but that had never stopped Sal before. When he pushed the door open, he was hit with the familiar scent of oakwood and weed. Standing in front of the stereo was Larry, wearing a pair of ripped black jeans and a brown t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, exposing the curves of his toned forearms. Sal’s stomach flipped at the sight of the gorgeous brown-haired boy. 

“Don’t just stand there like a stranger. Come here.”

Sal felt his anxiety hit him all at once. He pounced onto Larry, tackling him onto the bed. He was suddenly vibrating with potential energy and he needed some sort of relief. Sal lifted his mask to nibble at the base of Larry’s neck. The tall boy let out a moan as he grabbed hold of Sal’s hips. 

Larry’s breath was short. “As much as I am into this, we’ve gotta meet up with the others soon so…” He trailed off as Sal began palming him through his jeans. 

“I’ll be quick, I promise. Now shh!” Sal began working his way down to Larry’s thighs, biting his hip bones as he slid down his pants. He was frantic now, doing anything he could to stop thinking about what the rest of the night had in store.

Larry stopped Sal and pulled him by the shoulders to lay on his chest. “Sal. C’mon. I know you. What’s going on?”

Sal melted in Larry’s arms. They laid there for a moment, Larry’s head resting on top of Sal’s as he choked out a few quiet sobs into his chest. 

“Hey, hey,” Larry spoke softly into Sal’s ear, “What’s wrong, rockstar? Hey, shh. I’m here. It’s okay.”

Reaching his hand under his mask to wipe the tears out of his eyes, Sal took a step back. “I’m sorry. I’m just freaking out a little. You’ve all worked so hard and I want this to go well for you.”

“You’ve worked your ass off for this too, baby blue. We’re gonna rock on that stage tonight, just like we always do. Try not to worry so much.”

“Just, what if they don’t like me? The whole face thing? People will look at us up there, but all they’ll see is this stupid fucking mask! I don’t want to fuck this up for you guys.”

“If they don’t like you, we don’t like them. Simple. Sal, you’re one of us. No, you are us. There is no Sanity’s Fall without you. No matter what, we’re in this together.”

Larry reached over and held Sal’s face in one hand, and unclipped his mask with the other. He looked at his face, his real face, and slowly kissed him on his forehead. And on his cheek, and on his neck, and then finally on his lips. 

Sal tangled his fingers in Larry’s long brown hair and held him closer, parting his lips with his tongue as they kissed. Larry’s mouth tasted like peppermint. 

Larry pulled away from the embrace holding his hands out to Sal, “Hold on. There’s something I want to give you.” He moved over to his dresser and opened the top drawer and pulled out a small box. “Close your eyes.”

Sal did. He felt Larry walk behind him and something cold fall against his neck. When he opened his eyes, there was a small purple gem hanging by a silver chain resting on his chest. It seemed to glow against his black shirt. 

“It’s beautiful.”

“This is my promise to you. We’re in this together. Tonight is our night. We’re gonna kill it out there, and we’ll be the best damn band the Devourers of God have ever signed.”

Sal grabbed Larry and pulled him close once again. Their bodies were intertwined, Sal’s hands clutching Larry’s collar as he kissed him. 

“We’re in this together,” Larry echoed again into his ear.

But Larry didn’t keep his promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is pretty short! I'll be uploading the next one tomorrow to make up for it!
> 
> -Ren


	5. Chapter 5

Ashley’s alarm on her phone went off, playing the chorus of a rock song and startling Sal awake. 

“Jesus, what time is it?” Ash reached over Sal to grab her phone off the nightstand.

Sal rubbed his eyes before looking over Ash’s shoulder to check the time. It was 9:00 am. 

Sal swung his legs and hopped down from the bed. He stumbled over as he slid his shoes on. “I’m gonna be late!” He almost forgot his mask as he hurried out of the room. 

Sal bumped past Neil drinking a cup of coffee as he brushed his teeth in the kitchen sink. He gave the boy an apologetic look before running out the door, his backpack slung over his shoulder. 

He approached the old music building and even in his rush, it still took his breath away. It looked more like a tower from Hogwarts than a college building. The castle stood apart from the rest of the university, nestled in between newer buildings covered in windows and gray stucco. 

Sal pushed his way in and went straight to his class, taking a seat with a few minutes to spare. 

“Cutting it close on the first day of class, Sal? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Pretty unprofessional.”

Sal jumped at the sound of his name. “Jesus Megan, don’t scare me like that.” He turned to the purple-haired girl sitting next to him. “I didn’t know you were taking this class too.”

“Yeah after that music theory class last semester, I’ve been obsessed with trying to write my own stuff.”

Sal had loved that class, too. He and Megan had spent many late nights in the library studying time signatures and dynamics for their final exam. It had been challenging, but Sal knew it would help him with the band in the long run. 

Sal was suddenly bouncing with anticipation, ready for their class to start. He looked around the class, eyeing the various music instruments strewn about. Music was his soul, and he was ready to devour whatever the professor would throw at him.

He didn’t have to wait long. A woman with long, curly green hair entered wearing jeans paired with a dark blazer.

“Welcome to Music 403, an Introduction to Songwriting. My name is Professor Sanderson. If you haven’t already, please make sure to sign yourself in on the sheet by the door. Now before we begin-”

She was interrupted by the sudden creaking of the door. 

“Sorry I’m late.” Sal looked up towards the sound of the hoarse voice. Standing at the front of the classroom wearing a bleach splattered sweatshirt and a pair of cuffed jeans, was Larry.

“It’s the first day, so I’ll let it slide. Sign yourself in and take a seat.” 

“Wait, that- that’s Larry Jay!” a round older boy half-shouted from the back of the classroom.

“Holy shit,” another girl squealed, “I love your song ‘Who Fucking Cares’!”

Larry flashed them a smile, “Cool to see you’ve heard of me.” The class quickly dissolved into a frenzy. The Larry fans began crowding around him or leaning out of their seats to get a closer look. Those who didn’t know him were already pulling out their phones to Google his name. 

Sal slumped further into his seat. He had been looking forward to this class, and now Larry had to ruin this too. He was grateful that no one could see him grimacing under his mask.

“Alright, alright! Settle down! Mr. Johnson, it seems you have a few fans in this class.” Larry winced at the sound of his real last name. The professor went on, “Since this is a songwriting class, and I’m not familiar with your work, why don’t you play something for us? And then,” she turned towards the rest of the class, “You will all be quiet for the rest of the lecture.”

The entire class fell silent and all eyes were on Larry. He shrugged, “Sure, why not?” and strolled over to the guitars resting against the east wall. He grabbed onto a classic black electric and plugged it into an amp. 

“I think someone said they liked this song, so here’s Who Fucking Cares!” 

The amp exploded with sound and the class erupted. Sal had never been to one of Larry’s concerts, but watching him now he could envision him on stage, the lights engulfing him as he consumed the music. Larry’s voice was low and raspy as he sang the opening words of the verse, and it made Sal’s heart do a backflip. As much as he hated to admit it, Larry was incredible. He thrashed around the classroom as if it were a club, even sitting on a girl’s desk as he sang the chorus right to her. Larry burned so brightly as he performed, and the class was mesmerized by him, transported right out of the classroom and into a concert venue. 

Larry strummed the final chord of the song, and the class was silent as it buzzed in their ears. Their trance was broken by the sound of Professor Sanderson clapping.

“Well done, Larry. You may take your seat now.” The room was still stunned in silence as Larry slipped into the seat behind Sal. 

As Professor Sanderson began her lesson, Larry leaned forward and whispered in Sal’s ear, “Pretty impressive, huh?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be up tuesday! Thanks for reading and please share if you like it!
> 
> -Ren


	6. Chapter 6

The next few days of classes flew by. Sal was absolutely exhausted. Between strategically avoiding Larry inside the apartment and arguing with him in class, Sal was completely drained.

“Well, I think the song is about running away. He’s talking about how he loves her more than anything, but he’s afraid of what their future together would be like, so he leaves.”

Larry scoffed, “I respectfully disagree,” his tone was tinged with mockery. “The song is about wanting what’s best for the person you love, even if that means you can’t be with them. He’s leaving her because he knows she’ll be better off without him.”

“But that’s stupid! He’s literally abandoning her because of his own fears. He’s a coward!” Sal was starting to get heated.

“He’s sacrificing himself so the person he loves can be happy!”

“He’s being selfish by not even considering what she wants!”

Professor Sanderson had to stop them before they could finish their argument. The rest of the class alternated between Sal and Larry fighting, and them sitting in their seats silently fuming.

Finally, it was Thursday. Everyone had taken a heavy course load last semester, so they were all able to cram their classes together to have Thursdays and Fridays free.

Ash and Sal sat on a blanket in the backyard, poring over their sheet music and journals filled with lyrics. Sal’s head rested in her lap as Ashley drummed out little beats onto his plastic forehead. Travis sat nearby on the grass, smoke curling from his nostrils as he opened another pack of Marlboros.

“I don’t understand what the big deal is. You guys have tons of good songs, just choose a few and be done with it.”

“This will be our first set at the house, it’s history in the making! You’d understand if you played with us every once in a while, Travis” Ashley reached over and stole a cigarette from his pack.

Travis tossed her his zippo lighter, “Listen, jam sessions are fun, but I’m not into the whole ‘performance’ thing. Besides, my voice is nowhere near as good as Sals.”

Sal stared up at the cloudless afternoon sky. The sun beat down on his pale arms and he could feel the dull sting of the beginnings of a sunburn.

“I’m gonna head inside for a sec. If I don’t put sunscreen on I’m gonna look like a lobster for our show.” Sal stumbled out of Ashley’s lap, Travis’s eyes lingering on him as he headed back into the house.

Sal stepped around a sleeping Gizmo as he headed into the kitchen. Larry was sitting on the counter eating a yogurt, his hair loosely braided down his shoulder. The sun came through the kitchen window, engulfing him in a halo of yellow rays.

“Aren’t you lactose intolerant?” Sal reached past him to open their medicine cupboard.

“So? It’s not like it’ll kill me.”

“Just make sure you shit your brains out somewhere else. I don’t want you stinking up the house before the party.”

“Whatever, I’m about to leave anyway. Break a leg at your gig. Literally.” Larry hopped off the counter. “I’ve got an actual concert to play.”

Sal felt a quick pang in his chest. “Cool! I hope you fall off the stage, dick.”

Larry flipped Sal off as he walked out the front door. Sal heard the revving of Larry’s motorcycle and let out a sigh at the sound of it roar down the street.

“Sal! Grab me a beer,” Ash called from outside.

Sal grabbed his sunscreen and Ash’s Budweiser and headed out to the backyard.

He tossed Ash the drink. “Hey, can you help me put this on? I can’t really get my back,” He held out the sunscreen to her.

Ash was glued to her phone as she furiously typed, not even looking up. “Hold on I’m in the middle of something. Can you just have Travis do it?”

Travis’s cheeks turned a slight pink. “Uh, sure. I can help you out. Come here.”

Sal sat down facing away from him. “Sorry. Can you just get up to where my shirt stops?”

Travis’s hands were cold as he glided them over the upper part of Sal’s back. He was gentle, but firm, giving Sal a light massage as he rubbed in the sunscreen. For a moment, Sal remembered Travis doing something similar after they had fooled around in Todd’s room last year. He had to admit, he didn’t not like this.

“Okay!” Ash jumped up, “I have made a facebook page for our house! We can make an event to invite people for saturday. All we need now is a name!”

“A name? Why? Can’t we just put down the address?” Sal went over to check out the page. The photos Ash uploaded looked awesome, which wasn’t surprising.

“Of course we need a name! All good party houses have names! The places we went last year all had names; ‘Space Camp’, ‘Marathon’, ‘The Deli’, and so on. If we want to seem legit we need to have one.”

“Maybe something simple? Like ‘The Band House’ or something.”

Ashley snorted, “No offense Trav, but that’s super fucking lame.”

Sal paused for a moment, and then it hit him. “How about ‘The Treehouse’?”

Ash turned to Sal and beamed at him. “‘The Treehouse’ it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With everything going on, I might have to change my posting schedule. Usually writing is a way to destress, but currently I want to put my energy into supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please share if you're enjoying the fic! <3
> 
> -Ren


	7. Chapter 7

Friday was spent in a frantic race to set up for Saturday night. The gang spent most of the late morning and afternoon setting up their instruments and checking the sound equipment. They decided the band would play two sets, with Neil acting as DJ when they weren’t playing. Eventually they hoped to find other bands to play some nights too, but this first Saturday was all Sanity’s Fall’s. 

After Ashley made their facebook group, the party went viral around campus. #TheTreehouse was trending amongst Mansfield University twitter users. It seemed like anyone who was interested in the underground music scene (or underage drinking) would be there. Sure, they were competing with a few frat parties, but it seemed they’d have a decent turnout. 

The blur that was Friday came and went, and Saturday was finally upon them. 

“Sal wake the fuck up!! I’m too excited to wait anymore! I want to show you this!”

Ash grabbed Sal by the hand and dragged him out of bed, heading for the door.

“Wait, wait! Holy shit at least let me put on my face first, jesus! You fucking psycho oh my god.” Sal was groggy and still recovering from the rude awakening. 

“Hurry up!!!!!”

Ashley led him into the kitchen and opened the front door. Hanging at eye level was a poster of the painting Ash had made of him a few days prior, with the words “Sanity’s Fall” written in dark red lettering. 

“Isn’t it awesome?” Ashley beamed at him expectedly. 

Sal was taken off-guard. “Ash, this is amazing. I can’t believe you made this, it’s fucking awesome! But, shouldn’t you and Todd be on it too?”

Ash rolled her eyes. “C’mon Sal, you’re like the face of the band. And I don’t need to be on the poster, everyone will be watching my badass drumming tonight anyway. So like, why not give you the spotlight on the poster.” 

Sal punched her shoulder lightly “Seriously Ash, thank you. I can’t wait for tonight. I love you, dude”

“Sorry Sal, but that’s kinda gay,” She gave him her signature smirk, “You know I love you too. Okay let's head back in. You slept all fucking day and we still have stuff to do. But go shower first, you stink.”

Sal stuck his tongue out at her and left to go get ready. 

The next few hours were spent teaching Travis to bartend, locking up every room and cupboard in the house (including the refrigerator), and adding the finishing touches to the decorations. After a quick warm up and band practice, The Treehouse and it’s residents were ready for the party.

Sal looked at himself in his full-length mirror. His hair was hanging loose around his naked face, he wore a pair of black ripped jeans Ash had picked out for him and an old ‘Return of the Living Dead’ t-shirt. Something was missing.

He grabbed his prosthetic off his nightstand, clasped it into place, and threw on his favorite ‘Sanity’s Fall’ jean jacket. Looking into the mirror again, Sal thought “Perfect.”

As soon as 10pm hit, there were already-drunk college students lined outside the door ready to pay the $3 to get into The Treehouse. Todd was happily collecting cash, bouncing along to the music Neil was blasting through the house. The bar was soon swarming with people ordering rum and cokes, and the house shook from the vibrations of the party-goers dancing in the basement.

Pretty soon, it was time for their first set. Neil faded out his music as Sanity's Fall walked on stage. Sal grabbed his mic, his guitar hanging around his neck.

“Mansfield University, are you ready to rock?!”

Excited cheers came from the audience.

“I said, ARE YOU READY TO ROCK!!!??”

The crowd roared as Ash smashed the beginning beat of “House of the Wretched.”

The first set was a whirlwind. Each song got a different reaction from the crowd, each one stronger than the last. To sum it up: They. Rocked. At one point, Ash threw her drumstick up in the air and caught it in her mouth, and Todd even did an improvised keyboard solo that blew everyone away. 

Sanity’s Fall was eaten by the crowd as soon as the set ended. Todd was whisked away by Neil, and Ashley began chatting up some girl. Sal fought his way through the masses towards the stairs, but was pulled in by a group of kids smoking in the corner. 

“Sal! Get over here and take a hit! You deserve it after that set, man!” Megan was holding a pipe out to him, her eyes already a little bloodshot.

He grabbed the pipe from her and took a long drag. “Thanks! I’m honestly surprised there are so many people here!” He was shouting over the music.

“Dude it was all over campus! People have been looking forward to it! And after that show, I’m sure it’s gonna be like this every time!”

Sal beamed at her. Megan had seen him perform solo in class, but this was her first time seeing him with the band. He was proud to show off what Sanity’s Fall was capable of.

“I need a drink, but I’ll catch up with you later!” Sal waved to Megan and he headed up the stairs to the bar. 

The bar in the living room wasn’t as crowded as before. Travis was making a drink for a redheaded girl in a crop top, clearly oblivious to her flirting. 

“Hey, Sal! Come here, I came up with a drink for you!” Travis handed the girl her drink without even looking at her. 

Sal hopped behind the bar, taking the drink that was handed to him. It was in a tall clear glass and had a pink gradient to it. He took a sip and made a face underneath his prosthetic. 

“Be careful! It’s strong,” Travis laughed, “It’s kind of inspired by your mask? I tried to get it the same color. Sorry if it’s gross.”

“No, no, it’s good. I just wasn’t prepared for that.”

“I’ll keep working on it. Sal, you guys sounded great. I’m glad we put speakers up here so I could listen too, but Neil said he’d take over for me so I can watch your second set.”

“Oh, awesome. Cool, I’m glad you’ll get to see it, this next set is gonna be better than the first, trust me.”

“Speaking of, it’s gonna start in a bit right? You might wanna head down”

“Good call, I’ll see you.” Sal finished the drink and headed back to the basement. 

As soon as he got on the stage, the drugs and booze hit him all at once. He was more than buzzed, he was wasted. But that only charged Sal more. He could feel the pulse of his own heart beating, and he was ready to give everything over to the music. 

“Mansfield University! Thank you for being here tonight!” The crowd whooped at the sound of Sal’s voice blasting through the speakers.

“You guys have been a great audience, but we aren’t done with you yet! We’re finally here, away from all the bullshit of the world! So now, we’re gonna FUCKING ROCK! One, two, three, four!” 

Sanity’s Fall kicked right into gear, Sal shredding out the melody of “The Unknown” on his guitar. There was something different about the band during this set. Maybe it was the drugs, maybe it was the vibe, but something inside of them was electric. Every inch of their body was radiating the heat of the lights and sweat dripped down their foreheads. Sal and Todd were sing-screaming right into each other's faces, and Ash was smashing her drums like her life depended on it. They were almost otherworldly, possessed by the spirit of the ancient rock gods. 

Before they knew it, they were finishing up the set with their final song, “A Dark Secret.”

“Keep it hidden from me all you want, but I’ll always know the truth.  
You can try and play pretend, but I will always know you.” 

Sal’s eyes scanned the crowd as he began the final chorus of the song. Suddenly, his blue eyes met a pair of dark brown ones from across the room. Larry leaned onto the wall next to the staircase, fixated on the band before him. Sal couldn’t read the expression on his face, which somehow made things worse. 

Ash finished the song with a final strike of her cymbal. “Thank you! You’ve all been-” Sal snatched the mic out of her hand. 

“Ash,” he leaned over to whisper in her ear, “Let’s play one more song.” Ashley’s eyes grew wide as Sal told her what song he wanted to play. Once Todd was onboard, Sal approached the mic.

“We’ve got a special treat for you tonight, to commemorate this new chapter for Sanity’s Fall. When we first started, we actually had a fourth member of the group. Together, we wrote our best song at the time.” Sal looked right at Larry, his blue eyes piercing like daggers.

“Well, that guy turned out to be an asshole. So tonight, we’re reclaiming the song- but with a twist. With you all and God as my witness, here’s ‘Not Your Baby Blue!’” 

Sal, Ashley, and Todd channeled every fiber of their being into this one song. Sal could feel all the anger and pain of the past year pour out of him as he wailed on the guitar. The lyrics recovered a piece of Sal’s broken heart as he took his song back. His sweat mixed with the tears running down his face. The performance was dirty and sweaty and beautiful. 

When they finished the audience stared for a split second, struck in awe at what they had just seen, before exploding into a frenzy of applause. The three friends hugged each other tightly, too buzzed to care about how bad they all smelled. 

Once again, the band was swallowed by the crowd. Drunk teenagers were falling over themselves left and right to get a chance to talk to the members. Sal was soaking it all up, enjoying the attention, when he felt someone grab onto his arm. 

“Baby Blue is a great song.” a low voice whispered in his ear.

Sal turned around to be face-to-face with Larry, the tall boy’s arm still holding his tightly.

“Was a great song,” Sal corrected, “And now this one is even better.” He shook off Larry’s grasp. “Why are you even here? You were supposed to be gone.”

“I was. But I got back early. You were screeching so loud I could hear you from a mile away. Honestly, I’m kind of embarrassed for you.” He started to laugh when Sal grabbed him by the collar.

“You shut your fucking mouth. I don’t care what you think, Larry. Because I know that we were great. And every single fucking day we get better and better without you. We don’t need you, and we never did. So fuck off and find some groupie to talk to because I’m done here.” 

Sal tried to let go of his collar, but Larry grabbed his hands and held him there. “No, Sal. I never needed you.” The two boys stared intensely into eachothers eyes, a silent fire roaring between them.

Sal pulled his hands away and ran deeper into the crowd of bodies swaying to the music. His head was swarming and he felt like he was going to faint, but before he could he bumped directly into the boy in front of him.

“Hey Sal! Dude you were so awesome! That last song was really something else. I’ve never heard you guys play like that before! … Hey? Is something wrong?” 

Sal looked at Travis as he spoke. He was broken and hungry and wanted to forget about the past five minutes, the past week, the past year. He pushed his mask up to reveal his lips with one swift motion and crashed them into Travis’s. 

Travis didn’t hesitate. He had been wanting this, and Sal needing this, for a while. He tangled fingers into a head of blue hair and bit down hard on Sal’s bottom lip. Sal let out a quick moan before being pushed against the wall. He might’ve been embarrassed if it weren’t for the booze and a broken heart. 

They held each other close, Sal breathing in Travis’s ear as he kissed down Sal’s neck. 

“Trav,” Sal was panting, “Lets- let’s go upstairs.” 

The inside of Travis’s room was dark. Without turning on a light, Travis pushed Sal onto his bed, climbing on top of him. He bit down on Sal’s left ear before reaching over to hold his plastic face in his hands.

“Is it okay if I..?”

“Ye-yeah.” Travis always asked before he took off Sal’s mask. Every time. In a strange way, it made Sal feel safe with him.

Travis unhooked his mask and gently placed it on the bedside table. He took a moment to take in Sal’s real face, even though he’d seen it plenty of times before, before placing his cold hands at the base of Sal’s stomach.

Sal grabbed the bottom of Travis’s shirt, pulling it over his head and revealing a small silver necklace with a cross resting on his chest. 

Travis worked his way down Sal’s body, then slowly undoing his jeans revealing Sal’s erection. He started gently using his tongue to make small circles around the most sensitive part of the tip. Sal let out a sigh as Travis finally took the whole thing down his throat, bobbing deliberately up and down the shaft. 

“Fuck, Travis…” Sal grabbed a handful of blonde hair. Blue eyes met blue eyes, and a shiver went down his spine. He closed his eyes as Travis began moving faster. 

Travis pulled away and began kissing the inside of Sal’s thighs. Sal let out a laugh.

“You fucking tease!”

Travis smiled up at him mischievously, but his eyes were sincere. He sat up for a moment.

“Sal. You are so beautiful.”

Those words hung thick in the air for a moment too long.

“Uh, thanks Trav. Do you have a condom?”

“Oh, uh yeah hold on a sec.” He felt the sting Sal’s reply as he fumbled with the nightstand drawer. 

It only lasted for a moment though, because as soon as Sal ripped the package open, their moods suddenly changed.

They began to move faster, hungry to feel something. Sal leaned up against the headboard and swung his legs up to rest on Travis’s slight shoulders. Travis put one hand out to steady himself with the wall, using the other one to press his member against Sal’s hole. 

“Do it!”

Sal let out a moan as Travis entered him. Travis held Sal’s thighs and he began thrusting rhythmically. As he began to pick up speed, he dug his nails into pale white skin. Sal let out a yelp, which only pushed Travis to go faster.

Sal’s head kept banging against the headboard. He worried they were being too loud, hoping the sound of the music from the party below covered up their moans. 

“Sal I- I’m almost there!”  
“Yeah, yeah me too it’s okay.”

Travis was drawing blood from his hold on Sal as he gave one final pound. Sal gave out a small cry as he came.

They didn’t move for a moment, not wanting it to be over. Travis gave Sal’s leg a small kiss before pulling out of him gently. He got up and cleaned himself off, and Sal began putting his clothes back on.

“Hey, um. Do you wanna just sleep here tonight?” Travis held out a pair of his shorts to Sal.

Sal hesitated, and then took them. “Um, sure. If you don’t mind. It’s a little quieter up here anyway.”

He put on the shorts and climbed into bed with Travis. He felt the cold touch of the boy’s arms wrapping around him. Travis pressed his body against Sal, his head buried in blue hair. Sal felt guilty for a moment, knowing the extent of Travis’s feelings for him were greater than his own. But the feeling soon gave way to the safety of these arms, and Sal began to drift to sleep.

“Goodnight, Trav.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you for reading! This chapter was a monster to write so thanks for sticking with me!   
> If you're enjoying the fic, please leave me a comment! I would love to hear what your thoughts are!
> 
> -Ren <3


	8. Chapter 8

Sunday morning daylight shined onto Sal as he woke up in Travis’s room with a pounding headache. Travis was gently snoring next to him. Sal felt a little embarrassed about last night. Although they’ve slept together before, last night was different- more vulnerable. But he didn’t want to think about that right now. 

Sal tip-toed out of the bedroom as to not wake Travis up, slowly closing the door behind him. The door made a small clicking sound as Sal let go of its handle. 

“Well, you had quite a night.” 

Larry was sprawled out on the couch of the second-floor living room. He was wearing the same clothes as the night before, and the only difference being a pair of holey sweatpants instead of jeans. He sipped his coffee, looking at Sal with a raised eyebrow. Sal felt his heart begin to beat just a little bit faster. 

“Tell me, how is Travis in bed? To be honest I’ve always been a little curious. I wonder... do you still like to be-”

“It’s really none of your business, asshole.” Sal had a migraine threatening at the back of his head and no interest in discussing his sex life with Larry at the moment. He began to head downstairs, but Larry called back to him.

“Did you see Sanderson’s email about the final project?”

“What email?”

“Check your phone, dumbass.”

Sal opened his school email onto his phone, and sure enough, there was an email from Professor Sanderson titled “Upcoming Songwriting Project.” Sal scanned through, and nothing seemed particularly special about it. Sanderson had told them about this project on the first day of class and how it was worth a large percentage of their grade. This was nothing new. The email seemed pretty mundane to Sal, until he read the words ‘group project.’ He didn’t have to look at the pairing assignments to know who he’d be working with. 

Larry let out a snort. “C’mon Sal, you’re not even a little bit excited to be working with me? It will be just like old times.”

Sal grimaced, feeling like he was going to hurl, but luckily his plastic face remained composed. “If you fuck up my grade on this, you’re a dead man, Johnson.” He walked down the remaining steps and into his room. As soon as he closed the door, Sal ran to his trashcan and vomited. 

\---

The week flew by so fast the days blurred together. Sal steered clear of Larry as much as possible, avoiding working on their project together. It wasn’t due until the end of the semester, and Sal wanted to push off writing a song with Larry for as long as possible. 

Travis went back and forth from being clingy to distant with Sal all week. He’d do little gestures for Sal, like getting him coffee, and then give Sal the cold shoulder when he’d try to talk to him. Sal knew he and Travis would eventually need to talk about what happened Saturday night, but he was still feeling confused about it himself. And Larry joke-flirting with Sal to piss him off wasn’t making it any easier.

That was the real torture. After witnessing Sal’s walk of shame on Sunday, Larry was making constant snarky innuendos just to piss Sal off. It started off with just teasing him about Travis, but the snide comments had since turned into cruel fake flirting that made Sal even more confused.

Finally, Saturday came again and Sal was relieved. All he wanted was a night to forget about all the bullshit and rock out with his best friends. 

For this Saturday’s lineup, the band had decided to play some of Ash’s favorite songs. This meant lots of cursing out politicians in the lyrics and Sal even screaming for some of the songs. Since this was her night, Ash had insisted on dressing everyone up to her liking. 

“Ow! Ash if you poke my eye one more time I’m taking this away from you!” Todd pulled away from Ashley as she attempted to line his eyes with a black kohl pencil. 

“Dude! Do you wanna look like a rockstar or not? Look, Neil thinks you look hot so shut up and let me work!” Neil gave his boyfriend a thumbs up as Ash gestured to him with her free hand. Todd rolled his eyes, letting her continue smudging eyeliner under his eyes. 

She had already gotten to Sal, whose hair was now tied up in a half up half down bun. Ash had teased his bangs and styled them to hang shaggily to the side. He was wearing an oversized flannel shirt with safety pins holding onto the sleeves over a tank top Ash had designed herself. He looked good. Grunge wasn’t usually his thing, but Ash had managed to make it work. 

“She’s really making everyone go all out tonight.” said Travis, holding out a drink to Sal. 

He took the blue concoction with both hands. “Yeah, that’s Ashley for you. You look good though! It’s like, Goth 2.0”

Travis’s pale face flushed a light shade of pink. “Thanks, I’m not really used to wearing makeup but it’s growing on me.”  
Sal felt a little melancholy as he looked at Travis, not knowing what would be in store for the two of them. “Hey, Trav I-”

“Yo! What’s going on here? We playing dress up?” Larry sauntered down the steps, pipe in hand almost overflowing with bud. 

“Hey! Sharing’s caring.” Travis reached out for the glass pipe. He lit the pile of herb and took a long drag with his eyes closed. 

Larry turned to Sal. “You can hit it if you want, unless you’re afraid to get my cooties,” he laughed, “but I guess it’s already a little late for that.”

Sal snatched the still-lit pipe from Travis and took a large inhale, making eye contact with Larry. He blew a cloud of smoke directly into Larry’s face, filling the room with the scent of mary jane. 

Ash batted the smoke away. “Hey I’m working here! You’re next, Larry! It’s my night and we’re ALL gonna wear eyeliner goddamn it!”

Just as she had with the rest of them, Ashley smudged dark black eyeliner around Larry’s eyes. They made his brown eyes look even deeper, like pools of copper honey. She also braided a few messy plaits throughout his already-wild hair. Sal thought he looked like a lion, majestic and untamed. Larry caught Sal staring and held his gaze for a moment. For a second, Sal saw the old Larry sitting in front of him. But then Larry’s mouth curled up into a sneer, and Sal remembered that the old Larry was gone.

Once Ash had finished playing dress-up, everyone assumed their spots for the party. Todd prepared to collect money at the door, Travis sat down at the bar, and Neil began blasting music through the sound system. 

Ash grabbed Sal’s hand and they danced in the living room as they waited for the party-goers of Mansfield to arrive.

They waited. 

And waited. 

After an hour, they started to get worried.

“What the fuck!? We were packed last week! Where is everyone?” Ashley was tugging at the sleeves of her leather jacket as Travis handed her a drink. 

“Maybe you guys just sucked so hard that no one wanted to come back.” Everyone turned to glare at Larry.

Sal pulled out his phone. He figured if anyone knew what was going on, it would be Megan. She was pretty plugged in to the music scene on campus, and if she wasn’t at the Treehouse then something was definitely up.

Megan answered the phone, the sound of a loud pop song playing in the background. She shouted into the phone over the music.

“Sal! Dude what’s up!? Oh, sorry I’m not at the Treehouse tonight!”

“Yeah, where are you right now? No one came tonight.”

“For real? That SUCKS! But yeah everyone is probably here! There’s this dope band at this party tonight! You guys should come check it out! I’ll text you the address!”

Sal heard a click as Megan hung up, and his phone vibrated with her text. 

“So um, I guess everyone is at this place.” Sal held up his phone for everyone to see the address. 

Larry rolled his eyes. “Great, we got all dolled up for nothing.”

“Not quite.” Ashley snatched the phone out of Sal’s hand. “Todd, put this in your GPS. We’re going to a party.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are gonna start picking up soon in the next chapter- I promise. But DAMN I'm having fun writing this! Feel free to leave a comment on what you think!
> 
> -Ren


	9. Chapter 9

The residents of The Treehouse piled into Todd’s Jeep, with Neil as the driver (he agreed to DD). Todd Sat next to him in the passenger seat while Ash, Sal, Travis, and Larry squeezed into the backseat. Sal was annoyed Larry was tagging along. The tall boy had jumped at the chance to go to a party, and now Sal was going to have to deal with him for the rest of the night. Travis and Larry were giddy with excitement, passing a dab pen back in forth between them and cracking jokes. On the contrary, Ash was small, disheartened by the night's turnout. It was supposed to be her night to shine. All her favorite songs were in the line up and she was going to have some drum and vocal solos. It hurt Sal to see her night ruined.

The car stopped on the curb next to an apartment-house, similar to the one they all lived in. The house was painted a light gray-pink color, and the car vibrated with the beat of the music blasting inside the building. The crew climbed out of the car, shivering on the sidewalk.

“Ok, just text me when you want to leave and I’ll swing by and pick you up.”

Todd furrowed his brows at his boyfriend. “You aren’t coming with us?”

Neil shrugged. “Nah, I’ve got a paper due on monday so I’m gonna go home. But don’t hesitate to call if you need anything.” Todd leaned in and gave Neil a kiss goodbye, and then the car sped off back to the Treehouse.

“Entry is five dollars.” A stout boy with green hair and a backwards snapback held his hand out to them. He turned to face Ash and added, “Two for girls.”

Larry slapped a bill into the boy’s hand. He gave them a quick salute before disappearing into the crowd. The rest of them paid and headed inside together, travelling in a pack to avoid losing each other.

Megan was waiting by the door to meet them. “Sal, hey! Sorry about your party tonight! That sucks, dude. Last weekend was great.” Megan took a sip from her red solo cup and held it out to Sal, who took a quick swig of the amber liquid inside.

Inside the house was packed. Heat radiated off of bouncing bodies as the group made their way through the crowd. Sal could feel the beat of the pop song playing vibrate through his body as Ash clung onto the sleeve of his shirt. “Yeah, I guess everyone came here. Where are we exactly? Is there a band here?”

“The house is called ‘The Vending Machine’ which is kind of a weird name for a house if you ask me. It’s run by this really cool duo. They kind of remind me of the white stripes? But a little more pop. They took a break but it’s gonna start back up in a sec.”

As if on cue, a booming voice from the next room interrupted the music. “Alright you sons of bitches! Get your asses over here because it’s time to start the show!”

Sal gave his friends a look over his shoulder as Megan pulled him into the living room. He was struck with the scent of sweaty teenagers as they made their way towards the front. Sal thought he caught a glimpse of Larry from across the room, but he wasn’t entirely sure. When they found a decent spot, Sal put his arm around Ash.

He spoke so only she could hear him. “Hey, don’t worry. Just because tonight was a bust, that doesn’t mean we’re done.” He shook her shoulder playfully, which made her laugh.

“Yeah. I don’t know why, I just feel like something’s off.” She was about to say more, but the voice from the mic began again.

“Welcome to the Vending Machine! It’s great to see some assholes with a good taste in music.”

The crowd laughed. A girl with gray hair cut into jagged bangs was holding the microphone. She had a purple electric guitar hanging off of her shoulders. Sitting behind her at the drumset was the same green-haired boy who had taken their money at the door.

“Alright jerks, put away your bowls and set aside your solo cups, because we’re about to TEAR THIS FUCKING HOUSE DOWN!” The girl began playing her guitar with some fast picking, and the green haired boy followed her lead. Sal was actually stunned. They were good. Really good.

He turned to Ash, grabbing her by the hands and pulling her in to dance. He could sense she was still upset, but once Todd and Travis joined in she started to enjoy herself. Todd was jumping up and down playing air guitar, which made them all laugh.

Sal felt the buzz of his drinks start to kick in and the colored lights seemed so much brighter. He felt someone grab his arm and pull him in close. Travis held Sal’s hips against his own, swaying against them to the sound of the music. Sal was acutely aware of everyone around them, and subtly pulled away from Travis. He gave the boy an apologetic smile as he turned to dance with Todd and Ashley. Travis nodded, pretending to be completely unfazed by the rejection. He joined the others, bouncing along to the beat.

Although the band only had two members, their sound filled the room vibrating against the walls. The girl with the grey hair had a killer voice. When she sang, the room felt every lyric in their whole bodies. Her voice was raspy but strong, and she belted out notes Sal could never dream of hitting. Not only that, but her guitar playing was immaculate. She played a solo so complex, the entire house stopped dancing to watch. All eyes were glued on this crazy rock demon from hell. The boy wasn’t bad either. On top of that, they had recorded sound to play along with them, giving cool sound effects and interesting melodies to enhance their performance.

After an intense drum solo from the green haired boy, Ash stopped dancing and grabbed Sals sleeve. “Sal… do you think they’re better than us?” She looked at Sal with wide eyes, fear creeping in to ruin her night once again.

“No, no they aren’t better than us. And who cares dude? Maybe we can like, collab with them or something. Don’t worry about it.” Ash nodded, still clearly worried about it.

The set came to a close with a final note from the girl ringing through the entire house. The crowd burst into applause, with people whistling and whooping for the band.

“Thanks for coming tonight, you guys have been a great audience!” The girl was panting, a small bead of sweat dripping down her forehead. “If you liked that, make sure to go to the Mansfield University Music Competition at the end of the semester! We are MC Nation and we're in it to WIN IT, do we’ll see you there!

With that, a song began playing through the speakers. Sal, Todd, Ash, and Travis just stood there, too stunned to speak. Sal couldn’t believe they hadn’t heard about this music competition before.

“C’mon, let’s go introduce ourselves.” Todd led them into the other, quieter, room. The boy was manspreading on a couch in the hallway, the girl sitting on the arm rest with her legs draped over his lap.

Todd stepped in front of the group, turning on his manager voice. “Hi there, it’s really nice to meet you. You guys were great tonight.”

“Hey, thanks. I’m Chug. This is my girlfriend, Maple. So did you guys like the show?”

The girl, Maple, jumped in before any of them could respond. “Of course they liked it. Dude we fuckin rock!”

“Yeah, you guys were great,” Todd pushed up his glasses, “We’re in a band too, actually! We run the Treehouse.”

The girl snorted. “Sure, I’ve heard of it. And just so you know, we’re winning the Music Competition. So don’t get in the way.”

Todd didn’t say anything. Sal could feel Ashley being to boil next to him.

Chug gave Maple a look. “C’mon, there’s no need to be rude.”

“What? It’s not rude, it’s true. There’s no way some shitty punk band is gonna beat us.”

That set Ash off. “What the fuck is your problem? We came over here to compliment you, not get shit on. You haven’t even heard us play!”

Maple gave Ash a smirk. “I don’t need to. I can tell you suck just by looking at you.”

“Ash, seriously it’s not worth it.” Todd was holding onto Ashley’s elbow, trying to calm her down. But Sal knew Ash was at the point of no return. Trying to stop her was useless.

“You know what? If you’re so confident, then prove it. Why wait for some music competition? We can show you what we’re made of right here and now.”

“Now? Please, you’re clearly drunk and you don’t even have your instruments.”

“So what, we’re better than you even without our instruments! We’ll fucking prove it! We’ll fucking PROVE it!” Ash was getting sloppy. Her words were slurring together and her anger was only making things worse. Sal stepped in between the two girls holding out his hands.

“Hey, hey. Settle down.” He turned to the rude girl and her boyfriend. “What you said was out of line. We work really hard. And we’re fucking good. So how about this? Let’s fight this out with music. A Battle of the Bands. You can come to the Treehouse and play, audience decides who wins. Sound good?”

Chug let out a low bellied laugh, pissing off Maple. She swatted him with her arm and stood up to face Sal. “Fine. But know this: we’re gonna kick your ass at this battle of the bands, and then we’re gonna kick your ass at the music competition.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I gotta be honest, I'm not a huge fan of this chapter. I can't even bring myself to proofread it so I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes. But yeah there's more stuff I wanted to happen at this party, so the next chapter might be 9.5 instead of 10.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! I appreciate it! 
> 
> -Ren


	10. Chapter 10

After Ashley’s drunken challenge, the alcohol turned sour in her stomach and she began to get sick. They were able to get her outside just in time for her to hurl off the side of the porch. Todd held her hair out of her face as he sent Travis inside to get her a cup of water. Sal texted Neil to come pick them up, plugging his nose and standing as far away from Ashley as he could. Sal was known to sympathy vomit, and one whiff of Ash’s bile would lead to two sick idiots instead of one.

“Sal, did Neil text you back?” Sal shook his head no towards Todd, careful not to catch a glimpse of the action.

Todd sighed. “Alright, just go back inside. Neil probably fell asleep. Go drink some water and I’ll text you when it’s time to go.” As Sal was halfway through the door Todd added, “And tell Larry we’re leaving if you see him!”

The party was a lot less crowded now. Most people left after the live music ended, but there was still a decent number of kids drunkenly swaying to the song playing in the other room. Sal leaned over the kitchen sink, sipping lukewarm water from the faucet. He gulped the water down as if he’d run a marathon. The nauseated feeling in his stomach began to go away, and he slid onto the counter to wait for Todd’s text.

“Hey there. I saw you run out there with your friend. She doing okay?” Sal looked up from his phone to see a lanky boy with inky black hair standing in front of him.

“Yeah, she’s okay. She just had a little too much to drink tonight.”

The boy gave a grin with a mouthful of braces. “Sounds like she had a rough night. We’ve all been there. What about you? Rough night too?”

Sal let out a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, rough is a bit of an understatement. Disastrous is more like it.”

“In that case,” Braces Boy pulled something out of his back pocket and held it out to Sal, “Wanna get high?”

“Oh fuck yes.” Sal grabbed the dab pen and took a hit. He and Braces Boy passed it back and forth, and Sal’s head began to get fuzzy from the high.

“So,” said the boy, hopping up to sit on the counter next to Sal, “Is that blonde guy you were with your boyfriend? I swear I’m not a stalker, I just saw you guys dancing earlier and was curious.”

That caught Sal off guard. “Travis? No haha, he’s not my boyfriend. We’re just roommates.” He let out a small, nervous laugh.

“Since he’s not your boyfriend, is it okay if I do this?” He leaned in and began kissing Sal’s neck.

Without thinking (or maybe just thinking with his dick), Sal grabbed onto the boy’s shirt and softly clawed his back. The boy let out a quiet moan, and Sal felt his braces brush against his skin. He didn’t care, and Sal began curling his fingers under the waistband of the boy’s jeans.

Suddenly, Sal’s hands were tugged away and the boy was no longer next to him.

Sal opened his eyes to see Larry holding Braces Boy by the collar against the wall.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave. Now.” Larry’s eyes were flaming.

“What the FUCK do you think you’re doing?! Let him GO!” Sal pushed Larry off of Braces Boy. He turned to apologize, but the boy had already booked it.

“Larry, what the fuck?! Why did you do that?” Larry just rolled his eyes, taking a hit off of a familiar pen.

“Did you take his fucking dab pen?! What are you even doing!?”

“No, Sal, what are YOU doing. You can’t just throw yourself around like a fucking slut whenever you feel like it.”

“Excuse me?! You get no say in what I choose to do, or who I sleep with for that matter! That was completely out of line! What, is it your job to make my life fucking miserable?”

Larry towered over Sal, his back against the wall as he looked up at a pair of dark brown eyes. “Yep, sure is Baby Blue.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Make me.” Larry growled down at Sal, grabbing onto the hem of his shirt.

Although he was pissed off, Sal felt himself throbbing below. He pushed Larry’s chest and began leading him into the bathroom.

Larry slammed the door shut. Sal leaned against the sink, unbuttoning his pants. “Make this fucking quick, Larry.”

“I’ll do whatever I want.” A shiver ran down Sal’s spine as Larry kneeled down in front of him. Larry clutched Sal's thighs so hard they began to bruise under his fingers. He spit into his hand and began moving up and down the shaft of Sal's erection with firm strokes. Sal's toes began to curl inside his shoes as Larry placed his hot mouth over the most sensitive part of the tip. He tried to grab a handful of hair as Larry sucked him off, but Larry deftly pulled away and bit the inside of Sal's thighs as punishment.

"Keep your hands to yourself." 

Sal let a moan escape, hoping that Larry wouldn’t notice. He looked down to watch Larry. Those endless brown eyes looked up at him, burning with ferocity, and Sal felt a frenzy overcome him.

“Alright, enough of this, fucking turn around.” Larry stood up and grabbed a handful of Sal’s hair, turning him around and bending him over the counter.

Sal was panting in anticipation. “Use a fucking condom!”

“I know, I’m not an idiot. Now shut the fuck up. I don’t wanna hear your voice while I’m fucking you.”

Larry had unbuckled his belt and pulled out his erection. He slid on the lubricated condom and positioned himself at Sal’s backside. Sal felt Larry dick push against him and he braced himself.

“Jesus, fucking do it!”

Sal yelped as Larry slid inside of him, thrusting with slow tantric pumps. With each thrust, Larry went a little deeper until Sal could hardly take it. “Larry, fuck me harder I want it to hurt!” Larry lifted Sal up by his hips, bouncing Sal on top of him as he began to pick up speed. “I thought I told you to shut the fuck up!”

Sal bit his lip as he stopped himself from hollering out. He felt so hot inside. He hadn’t felt like this in a long time, and he was going to enjoy every second of it.

“Fuck. Fuck I’m gonna come.” Larry’s fingernails were digging into Sal’s sides as he moved his hips faster. Sal couldn’t control himself, and he let out a little scream. Wrapping his arms around Sal’s torso, Larry gave one final thrust and held him there, quietly moaning in Sal’s ear.

After a moment, He pulled Sal off of him and flung the condom into the trash. He turned to look at Sal. “I like fucking you with your mask on. That way I don’t have to look at your fucking face.”

The euphoria of the sex was wearing out, and Sal felt the sting of Larry’s comment. He was too shaken up to reply, and he fumbled putting his pants back on.

“Oh shit.” Sal pulled his phone out of his back pocket. There were six missed calls from Todd. As if on cue, the phone began vibrating with the seventh.

“Hey! Sorry, I um-”

Sal could hear the exhaustion in Todd’s voice. “It’s whatever. Did you find Larry?”

“Uh, yeah I found him.”

“Cool. Neil is on his way to pick us up so let’s go.” Before Sal could reply, Todd hung up.

Larry was sitting on the ledge of the bathtub, smoking from the stolen dab pen. “Hey, Todd said Neil’s almost here so-”

“Cool.” Without even looking at him, Larry stood up and walked out of the bathroom. Sal splashed some water under his mask and followed him.

\---

Neil apologized about ten times when he showed up. He had fallen asleep studying and his phone had died. Todd practically melted when he slid into the passenger seat.

“Where were you? Todd said you weren’t answering your phone?” Ashley leaned her head onto Sal’s shoulder, his jacket draped around her.

“Uh, the bathroom. My stomach got the best of me too.” She raised her eyebrow at Sal but didn’t question it, too exhausted to carry the conversation any further.

The rest of the car ride was completely silent, the events of the night hanging over them like thick fog. It had seemed more like a week than a couple of hours, and they were all ready to get home and sleep.

Sal caught Travis’s eye over Ashley’s head. Sal quickly looked away before Travis could say something, feeling a little guilty. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the window and slowly drifted to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I've been posting a little less frequently due to everything going on in the world, but I promise I'm gonna stick with it!
> 
> -Ren


	11. Chapter 11

The silence of the early Sunday morning was broken by the high-pitched whistle of a kettle. Neil poured boiled water into the mismatched mugs lined onto the counter. With Todd’s help they passed out the mugs of piping hot coffee to their group of very hungover friends.

Ashley was curled up on the couch next to Sal, the two of them bundled into a threadbare blanket. Larry was sprawled out on the beanbag chair and Travis sat on the hardwood floor, his head resting on the coffee table. Each held their mugs close, taking small sips to avoid burning themselves.

After everyone had a mug, Neil and Todd sat down with the rest of them. Todd was the first to speak.

“Alright, we need to talk about last night.” This was met with groans from everyone except Neil.

Ash’s voice was raspy, her throat still sore, “Do we have to? I’d really like to pretend last night didn’t happen.”

“Me too” Sal muttered under his breath.

“We don’t have time to wait.” The sound of Todd’s voice made Sal’s head pound. “We’ve gotta come up with a game plan. We only have three weeks to get everything ready for the battle of the bands against MC Nation.”

Larry snorted. “What a stupid name for a band.”

“Anyway,” Todd continued, “This is a big deal. It’s going to take a lot of preparation to get ready for this thing. There will be a lot of people here and if we want them to keep coming to our parties we need to one: make sure they actually enjoy the house, and two: we need to be so good that they want to hear us play again. Which will be hard to do while we’re going up against MC Nation.

So, I’ve decided that for the next three weeks while we get ready, we won’t be throwing any parties.”

This woke Ash up, tossing her blanket into Sal’s lap. “Are you joking!? We can’t just not throw any parties! Everyone will forget about us!”

Todd didn’t shy away from Ashley’s outburst. “That's not necessarily true. You made that facebook page, right? With that and my excellent marketing skills, I’m sure I can get enough buzz for our showdown that plenty of people will show up. Plus, this is more important than you realize. At the end of the semester, we’ll go up against MC Nation again at the Mansfield University Music Competition. I did some research, and it looks like the audience has influence over who wins. So we need to make sure that everyone who comes to the Battle of the Bands will be rooting for us at the competition.”

“Are you guys seriously gonna do that thing? It sounds lame.”

Todd pushed his glasses up his nose. “Thank you for that comment, Larry, but the competition is a huge opportunity for us. In addition to a pretty hefty monetary prize, the winners will get the chance to meet with a record company and make a pitch for a deal.”

This got Sal excited. “So what- we win this thing, collect the cash, and get a fucking record deal?! Todd, that's awesome dude!”

Larry rolled his eyes. “What’s the company?”

“It’s actually one of the top competitors of the label you’re signed to, Larry,” Todd had a slight smirk on his face. “You’ve probably heard of them. ‘Portablemoose Records?’ They’ve actually gotten more number one hits than ‘Devourers of God’ this year. Kinda ironic that we’ll get to sign with a better company than you did, huh?”

“Yeah well that’s only if you win.”

Todd stood up, towering over Larry. “Oh, don’t worry. We will.” With that he calmly walked out of the upstairs living room, quiet anger stirring within him.

They all sat silently, watching Todd go. After he had gone, Larry was the first to speak. “Alright. I’m going back to sleep. I’ve got some interviews later today so don’t bother me.” He walked into his bedroom, locking the door behind him.

“I’m gonna sleep too. This gave me a fucking headache.” Travis got up and gave a slight glance in Sal’s direction before going into his room.

Sal and Ash began heading for the stairs, Ashley’s arm lazily drooped over his shoulder, but Neil stopped them before they got there.

“Hey, sorry to do this, but can you guys help me with something?” He looked sheepishly at the floor, as if ashamed of what he was about to say. “Could you guys tell me what happened with Larry?”

\---

Sal sat cross legged on Ashley’s bed beside Neil. They moved to Ash’s room to avoid anyone else in the house overhearing.

“So, um. What’s going on, Neil? I mean, why do you want to know about this now all of a sudden?” Ash was sitting on her stool holding her still-steaming mug of coffee.

“Sorry.” Neil fidgeted with a few threads hanging by the hem of his sweater. “I know this is kind of out of nowhere. It didn’t seem to matter so much before, but now that Larry’s here I feel like I should know. Everyone else knows what happened, and I’m the only one out of the loop.”

“I never thought about it that way, Neil,” empathized Sal, “I’m really sorry you’ve been feeling left out.”

“No, no. It’s no one’s fault. It’s just… I think Todd is having a harder time with Larry living here than he’s letting on. And it just feels like everyone is so tense all the time. If I knew what happened, then maybe I can find some way to help.”

“Neil, it’s not your responsibility to fix whatever is going on. Don’t put that on yourself. But still, you have a right to know what happened. Um, Ash?” Sal looked up at her with glassy eyes. “Do you think you could start?”

“Sure. Ummmmm… where to start? Well, we were all friends in highschool. Larry lived in the same apartment building as Sal and Todd, and we all went to the same school. I can’t remember whose idea it was to start a band-”

“It was Todds.” Sal interrupted.

“Oh, that’s right! Todd had added all these cool mods to Sal’s guitar, and I guess working on it made him get super into music. I remember him running around saying shit like ‘music is math!!!’ Ha, what a fucking nerd. Anyway, Todd suggested we start a band and Larry was immediately on board. The two of them came up with the name ‘Sanity’s Fall.’ Sal took some convincing, but eventually Larry convinced him and we all agreed to start the band. This was our freshman year of highschool, so like almost five years ago.

We set up some old equipment that Todd had fixed in my garage and we’d practice there every day after school.”

“Those were good times.”

“Throughout all of highschool we did that, practicing every day and having a small performance every once in a while. By our senior year we were pretty damn good. Todd even got us a few gigs playing in some bars.

At the end of our senior year, Todd told us he’d gotten us a job playing at an actual venue. It would be the largest crowd we’ve ever played for. But the craziest thing was that some guy from ‘Devourers of God’ was going to come see us perform and wanted to talk to us after the show.”

Neil’s eyes grew wide with understanding. “That’s the company Larry signed with.”

“Yep,” Ash sighed, “I guess you can see where this is going. The performance was the night before we graduated from Nockfell High. We were all pretty stoked. I mean, we thought in the span of 24 hours we would go from high school students to rock stars.

The gig was awesome. As shitty as everything after it was, I can’t completely hate that night. We were just, so fucking awesome. I’ve never been so proud of something in my life. I can’t really speak for Sal, but I felt amazing on that stage. Like I was on top of the world.

After we played, some sleaze-ball representative from D.o.G. came and talked with us. I don’t remember most of the conversation, I was still high off the adrenaline from being onstage. But after talking to all of us, he said he wanted to talk with Larry separately. We went outside to wait for him and it felt like years until he came back out. Larry never told us what that guy said to him.

The next day when we all went to graduation, Larry didn’t show. Man, we spent so much time looking for him. He wouldn’t answer his phone and no one had any idea where he was, not even Sal.

We never heard from Larry again. It wasn’t until a week later that we saw D.o.G.’s announcement of their new star ‘Larry Jay.’ So, that’s basically everything.”

The three of them sat there, silence hanging thick around them. It was a lot to take in, for Neil who was hearing it for the first time, and for Sal who was reliving it all over again. It was painful to remember the past. Sal had loved Larry with everything he had, and Larry left without even saying goodbye.

Neil slid off the bed and hugged Ashley. “Thank you for telling me.” He turned to hug Sal. “You too. I know this must be difficult for you. I really appreciate that you shared this with me. I think I need to go sit for a while. This is a lot to think about. Seriously, thank you.” With that, Neil gave them a small wave and headed out of the room.

As soon as he heard the door click shut, Sal let out the sob he’d been holding back.

“Oh, Sal.” Ash slid his mask off, using her sleeve to wipe the tears of his scarred face. “Shh, it’s gonna be okay. I’m here, I’m here.” She wrapped her arms around him as he cried into her shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo I'm posting this without going over it. I will edit it later on. I am so sorry if you're reading this now and see any horrible mistakes. 
> 
> Haha, anyway thanks for reading!!
> 
> -Ren


	12. Chapter 12

Sal listened to the tap-tap-tapping sound of the rain hitting the window of the old music building. He looked out at the cloudy gray sky, dreaming up a melody to accompany the rain’s rhythmic beat. The song inside his head was slow and languid, the minor key weaving itself through the bar lines creating a tapestry in each measure. He could hear the sound of Professor. Sanderson in the background, droning on about the homework assignment.

Sal was too tired from the eventful weekend to really hear what Sanderson was saying. Typically Sal spent class asking non-stop questions or arguing with Larry about something, but today the fog both outside the building and within his mind was too thick to fight through. There were so many questions he still had, each one becoming the lyrics to accompany the pitter-patter song he was mentally composing. Would Sanity’s Fall really be able to beat MC Nation? Why did Larry get so mad at the party? How will Travis react when he finds out about what happened between Larry and him? Will he even tell Travis? Can he?

The sound of Sanderson’s watch alarm signaling the end of class woke him from his trance.

“Alright, class is over. Don’t forget to bring in a Jazz song to analyze next class! And remember: the end of the semester will be here faster than you think. I trust you’ve all begun working on your final assignment? This isn’t something you want to wait until the last minute to start!” A few students gave her a half-hearted thumbs up to reassure their professor that they had indeed begun the assignment as they filed out of the classroom.

Sanderson tapped Sal’s shoulder before he could leave with the rest of the pack. Larry stuck his tongue out at him as he walked past, disappearing down the hallway.

“Hey, Sal. I just wanted to talk to you for a quick second.” She smiled at him, her nude lipstick slightly smudged in the corners of her mouth.

“Yeah, sure. What’s up? Did I mess up the homework or something? To be honest I was pretty confused about-”

“It’s not about that, Sal. I just wanted to check in and see if you’re doing alright? You haven’t been acting like yourself today.”  
“Yeah I’m fine, just a little tired,” Sal ruffled his bangs for a moment in thought, “Although, is it possible for me to switch partners for the final project? I think I’d be better off working with Megan, or literally anyone else than…”

“I know you and Larry have your… differences. But I truly think if you can set those aside and work together, you have the potential to make something really special. You two are more alike than you are different. I look forward to hearing your song.” She gave him a friendly wink and held open the door for him.

Sal could still hear the rain pouring down from the empty hallway. He made his way to the large front doors of the building. Through the stained glass windows, he could see the mass of students walking outside, bundled up in their raincoats and umbrellas. His umbrella was leaning against his dresser back at the Treehouse, completely useless to him there. Sal cursed under his breath, wishing he had checked the weather before leaving the apartment.

“Doesn’t look like it’s gonna let up anytime soon.”

Sal whirled around to find Larry, sitting on the staircase leading up to the building’s second floor. Larry’s hair was hanging loose around his face, and he had his dark green backpack slung over his shoulder. He was wearing an oversized gray ‘Mansfield U’ sweatshirt, the collar was cut off exposing Larry’s prominent collarbone and the leather cord of a necklace tucked into his shirt. If he wasn’t looking at him with an infuriating smirk on his face, Sal would have thought he looked cute.

“What are you still doing here?” asked Sal, hoping Larry didn’t notice his staring.

“Uh, I’m not riding home in that. I’m just gonna chill here until the rain stops. What did Sanderson want?”

“Oh, um. It was nothing. Just something about the homework is all.” Sal was looking at the floor so Larry wouldn’t see through his lie.

Larry shrugged. Sal leaned against the door, unsure if he should say something else. The energy between them was almost suffocating. When he was around Larry, Sal could barely remember who he was. He let his eyes wander back to Larry, taking another peek at his collarbone. Although the sweatshirt was too big for him, Sal could still see the curves of Larry’s toned muscles. He gulped as the memory of their steamy encounter at the party flashed through his mind.

Larry caught Sal looking at him and held his gaze. Sal was worried for a moment that Larry had read his mind. He was glad for his stoic plastic face, hiding any sign of emotion.

“You know, since we’re both stuck here we might as well work on the song.” Larry gestured to the whole of the building, “I mean, we’ve got pretty much any instrument we need at our disposal here and it’s not like we’re doing anything else.”

Unfortunately, Larry was right. Whether he liked it or not, Sanderson had made it clear that switching partners was not an option, so Sal would just have to suck it up and work with Larry on this. “Fine.” Sal said grudgingly. Larry smirked as Sal followed him to an empty rehearsal room.

The rehearsal room was cold. The AC was still blasting through the building despite the chilly autumn weather outside. Sal pulled the sleeves of his favorite denim jacket over his hands, wishing he had worn something warmer. The sterile white walls had become a dull shade of beige over the years. There was a keyboard sitting against the back wall of the tiny room, as well as a music stand and two stools.

Larry had already signed out a guitar to practice with, an old honey-colored acoustic, and sat at one of the stools placing the guitar on his lap. He began tuning the guitar silently, almost as if Sal wasn’t there. Sal took the spot at the keyboard, playing a few scales to warm up. In the small space, Sal was hyper-aware of how close Larry sat to him.

Larry reached over Sal to play a single note on the keyboard. He was leaned in close, his face almost touching Sal’s plastic cheek. “What are you doing?”

“Hold on, I can’t quite get the high E string to sound right. Just gotta-” Larry hit the E key on the keyboard once again, and then went back to his guitar, turning the final peg to tune the string.

Once finished, Larry looked up at Sal expectantly. “So, what do you want to write a song about?”

Sal was caught off guard with a memory of Larry asking him the same question years before. How many songs had they written together before? Sal had spent countless hours with Larry like this, working together to create something. Writing with Larry had felt like the most natural thing in the world, but now it felt so strange and foreign.

“Um, I have no idea. Maybe we can just play around and try to figure out a melody first?”

Larry pulled his hair back into a low ponytail. “Sure, that works. Just start playing something”

Hesitantly, Sal brought his hands to the keyboard. Improvising wasn’t his strong suit, especially when it came to playing piano. Closing his eyes, Sal began to play a few chords blindly. He sustained the notes with his right hand, using his left to play the chord in an arpeggio. The minor chords rang out softly under his fingers. He played one after another, finding the notes in the dark. They sounded strangely familiar to Sal, like something he heard once in a distant memory.

A crack of thunder made Sal jump, opening his eyes. He was brought back to reality, and once again could hear the sound of raindrops against the window pane. Then he remembered why he felt like he’d heard this before. This was the song he had written in his daydream.

Larry picked up the chord progression with his guitar, following Sal’s lead. Sal instantly felt the vibrations of the guitar strings, holding him up as a foundation for the music. He began plucking out a melody now, his fingers dancing over the keys. Sal didn’t have to think. His hands just knew where to go, what notes to play. It was like his brain was on autopilot while his heart and hands did all the work.

He looked over at Larry. For a moment he was entranced by the image before him. Long slender fingers gliding over strings. He really was beautiful, Sal thought. He began once again playing the chord progression, signaling Larry that it was his turn to take the reigns.

Larry began picking notes with skillful precision. He was much quicker than Sal had been, playing eighth notes as opposed to Sal’s whole notes. It was a strange juxtaposition, but it worked. It was so smooth, and Sal could feel the melody resonate within him. With his left hand, he added a soft harmony to play alongside it.

They played like this for a while, switching back and forth between playing the core chords and making up a melody. It was a beautiful made up duet, held together by the sound of the rain.

Sal felt a raindrop hit his hand. He stopped playing, surprised. It took him a moment to realize it wasn’t from the rain. He hadn’t noticed he’d begun to tear up.

“Hey, why’d you stop?”

“Oh, nothing! Just got something in my eye!” Sal turned away to wipe his face under his mask, embarrassed that Larry might see.

Larry began packing away the guitar. “Well, looks like the rain stopped. I’m heading home.” He started out the door but stopped, the door held open with Larry’s shoulder. Nonchalantly, he looked back at Sal who still sat by the piano. “Hurry up if you want a ride back. I’m not waiting for you.”

\---

Riding on Larry’s motorcycle was terrifying. Ash had tried to get Sal to go on one once, but he had refused citing motorcycle accident statistics.

Sal couldn’t remember any of those statistics as he held onto Larry’s waist, the wind tangling through his hair. It was exhilarating to watch the buildings go by in a flash. Sal’s eyes watered from going so fast, but he was too pumped with adrenaline to care. He could feel Larry’s body heat radiating off him. He was so warm compared to the crisp autumn air. Sal could smell Larry’s cologne wafting around him, and in a strange way he felt safe. He was completely unafraid in this moment. He felt free.

They arrived at the Treehouse much sooner than Sal would have liked. He was still dizzy with the rush of being on the motorcycle. Larry took off his helmet, his long sienna brown hair falling over his shoulders. He stretched his arms wide over his head. “Jesus, you’re such a pussy. You held my sides so tight they fucking hurt now.”

“Oh, shut up.” Sal tossed the spare helmet he’d worn at Larry. “I wouldn’t have had to hold on so tightly if you didn’t drive like a fucking psychopath. Seriously, where did you learn to ride one of these? They shouldn’t let you on the roads.”

“Ha. Ha. Next time you can walk.”

They walked into the apartment to find a very tense Neil pacing back in forth on the phone. He hadn’t noticed the two of them walked in, he was so entrenched in his conversation. “No, no I know. Yep that’s the right number. Well- uh huh. So what’s the problem?”

Larry walked right past Neil, completely uninterested, and headed upstairs. Sal grabbed a beer from the refrigerator, worrying about whatever was upsetting Neil.

“Okay, so it’s just the GPA? Yep that’s not a problem. Don’t worry I’ll take care of it. Sorry about all this. You have a nice day now, thanks for all your help.” Neil ended the phone call with a large sigh.

“Hey, you okay dude? That didn’t sound good.”

Neil smiled at Sal, almost too brightly to be real. “All good! Just some miscommunication with the financial aid office. I got it sorted, so no worries!” He clasped a hand on Sal’s shoulder and walked out of the kitchen. As he left, Travis entered sheepishly.

Travis tiptoed over to the open window and lit a cigarette. He took a drag, blowing the smoke outside through the window screen. “Hey, Sal? Do you think we could talk?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Just for reference, this chapter takes place on the Monday of their third week of classes! 
> 
> I've had weird stuff going on in my life, so posting has gotten weird. I'm gonna shoot for having an update every four days. 
> 
> \- Ren <3


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